Health Leadership International Programs
HLI works in three arenas to support our mission:
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Delivering clinical and leadership training in best practices through culturally & linguistically appropriate curricula
We have trained 130 rural (District) health workers, 200 mid-level hospital staff & 120 administrators using culturally-competent, bi-lingual clinical and health administration curriculum based upon Lao health official recommendations as to the areas of greatest need. This included translating into Lao and giving to each student two community health guides: Where There is No Doctor and Where Women Have No Doctor.
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Building sustainability by engaging Lao medical professionals as co-teachers and leaving them with curriculum materials they can use to extend the reach of the training after the Health Leadership team leaves
By employing a Train-the-Trainer model whereby HLI faculty members pair with Lao co-trainers, we are developing a cadre of in-country trainers to carry the work forward.
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Providing health professionals with needed medical equipment
We have donated essential diagnostic tools to Lao healthcare workers serving rural districts. Each graduate of the clinical training receives a stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff for use in their District. In addition, Radiology specialists from each of five provincial hospitals gave been trained and given Sonocite portable, battery-operated ultrasound machines for diagnostic use in the field.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
English has become the international language of medicine in Southeast Asia.
Beginning this May 2012, the Lao University of Health Sciences, in a partnership with Health Leadership International, will incorporate Medical English into the standard Lao medical school curriculum.
Since its earliest negotiations with HLI Seattle in 2007, The Lao Ministry of Health expressed its desire for HLI Seattle to offer courses in Medical English. In 2010 HLI Seattle published Lao's first Medical English textbook, English for Lao Medical Professionals and piloted its use in the classroom. Now it is taking Medical English to the next level by creating a sustainable model that doesn't depend upon native English speakers from abroad coming over to teach English for brief periods. HLI Seattle educators are currently completing a self-study curriculum that will include a revised edition of the Medical English textbook, an interactive video and additional resources to serve both Lao teachers of English on the medical school faculty and for self-study by medical students.
This year HLI Seattle will also offer support to the new Lao Midwifery School, the first program of its kind in the country, which is a division of the brand-new University of Health Sciences campus in Luang Prabang. Distinguished faculty from the UW & Bastyr Midwifery programs are developing courses in best global midwifery practices for HLI Seattle's December 2012 training. We would like to provide midwifery students with copies of Hesperian's excellent illustrated guide, Where There is No Midwife but will need funding to cover the costs of Lao translation and printing.